Oh, The Webs We Weave
by Lily Hanson
Summary: Follows Date Night: What Should Have Happened - A spider gets into the Shiba House and causes trouble.
1. Jayden vs The Spider

_Disclaimer: I do not own the rights to Power Rangers: (Super) Samurai. This is purely fan-made._

* * *

For the first time in a long time, all was quiet in the Shiba House.

Mike had fallen asleep after morning training. He had stayed up all night before playing video games and was finally catching up on some much needed sleep.

Kevin and Mia, as usual, were reading their books in silence.

Antonio was cooking lunch in the kitchen, and was working alone to prepare the meal.

Serena was practicing different symbols in the dojo.

Emily was playing a game of hide-and-seek with Storm and the Zords. They were winning.

Breaking the silence, Jayden let out a high pitched shrill and raced into the common room.

Antonio and Serena came in from the kitchen, wanting to know what was up. Mike had been pulled from his bedroom by the scream and came running over, ready for action. Mia and Kevin were rubbing their ears, Emily had her eyes wide in shock, and Storm and the Zords all came out of hiding to see what had caused their fearless to scream like a terrified little girl.

"Sp-sp-sp-sp…"

"He's trying to say something," Mike chuckled and gave his thighs a tap, playfully teasing Jayden, "What is it, boy? Did Mentor fall down the well?"

"SPIDER!"

Serena's hand shot high into the air, "I'll kill it! Where is it?"

"A teeny tiny spider?" Antonio teased. He knew his boyfriend had a fear of spiders, and while he found it cute, he couldn't resist the opportunity to poke fun at his brave red Ranger. "Just step on it, Jay."

"Where is the spider?" Mia asked. She took Jayden's hand to calm him down as he gulped.

"This is n-n-no ordinary spider," Jayden said. He held his arms out wide, nearly smacking Mia in the face, "It's this big!"

"Translation," Antonio held his index and thumb a few centimeters apart, "It's about this big."

"It's huge!" Jayden said. He grabbed Mia by the arm and started pulling her this room, "I'll show you."

Though Jayden was dragging Mia with him, the rest of the Samurai were following. They wanted to see this ginormous spider with their own eyes. Serena even made an extra-large tissue out of symbol power; just to be sure she was equipped to kill it.

Antonio saw this and laughed, "Is it sad my boyfriend's scared of something whose mortal enemy is a flimsy tissue?"

"Not at all," Serena shook her head, "The sad thing is that this is the guy we swore our lives too."

"There," Jayden pointed to the spider climbing up his wall, "Right there," he pushed Mia into his bedroom, "Kill it!"

Mia sighed, "Give me the tissue."

Serena passed the tissue to Mia, who slowly approached the spot on the wall the spider had decided to call home. Just for fun, right as she was about to kill it, she let out a soft scream. Jayden responded by screaming even louder and pushing Emily into the room.

"Take her!"

"HEY!"

"Relax, Jayden," Mia chuckled and pinched the spider with the tissue, killing it before it even knew it was being hunted. She scrunched the tissue up into the ball and tossed it into the garbage. "It's gone, Jay. You can stop shaking."

Jayden stood up straight and cleared his throat, "I'm not shaking."

"You're trying to pretend like you're not scared?" Antonio laughed. He wrapped his arm around his boyfriend and gave him a loving squeeze, "Aw, Jay. It's way too late for that. We all know you're a wimp when it comes to creepy crawlies."

"Thank god that wasn't a Nighlok," Emily muttered. She picked up Storm and brushed past Jayden, "You would have sacrificed me."

"Sorry, Em," Jayden rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Spiders bother me."

"Yahuh. Bother is totally the right word to use here," she said sarcastically, rolling her eyes. She left the room and Jayden followed, offering his deepest apologies. Antonio, Mia, Kevin, and Serena all laughed, shaking their heads as they followed. The teasing wasn't over for the red Ranger.

Mike was chuckling as well. Jayden was fearless when it came to most things, but spiders had been something that had terrified him. Battle Arachnitor all those months ago had been a lot to ask from Jayden, but he had managed it. Still, somehow, the tiny eight legged creatures scared the red Ranger more than life itself, and Mike was going to have fun with that.

As he was about to leave, something moving on the wall caught his eye. He looked a little closer and saw it was the spider. He furrowed his brow and turned to the garbage pail. Mia must not have squished the spider enough to kill it.

Mike didn't need a tissue. Seeing as the spider was still alive, he couldn't resist making Jayden scream one more time. He guided the spider onto his hand and slowly started making his way down to the common room. He was about halfway there when he felt a sharp pain in the palm of his hand. He recoiled in pain, dropping the spider. He watched it scurry off very quickly, even for a creature with eight legs.

"Ow, you little bugger," Mike said and looked down at his hand. He could already see a small bump forming where the spider had bit him, but this wasn't the first time he had been bitten. He changed his course from the common room to the kitchen so he could get some ice to numb the pain. "Maybe I'll turn into Spiderman," he chuckled to himself. "That'll really scare the shit out of Jayden."


	2. Just A Bite

Mike couldn't stop scratching the palm of his hand.

He had been bit by a spider before. As a child he loved to play around with the eight-legged creatures and it had earned him a few painful bites. He knew they could itch for days. Sometimes he even needed to go to the doctor's, but for the most part he was okay.

This bite felt different, but even though it hurt, he was still having fun. As Jayden finished the last bite of his lunch, Mike stuck his hand in the red Rangers' face.

"SPIDER BITE!" he cried loudly. Jayden pushed his chair back, moving away, but he didn't shriek like he had when he had seen the spider. He glanced up at Mike, down to his hand, and then back at the green Ranger.

"Was that supposed to scare me?"

Mike looked at his hand. Though there was a bump and it looked painful, it was really no more terrifying than some of the injuries the Rangers had come home with.

"Would it scare you more if I told you Mia failed to kill the spider and it got away. It's still somewhere in the..."

"Got it!" Serena said. She was carrying a shoe to the kitchen and over to the garbage. Mike could tell she had found a spider (not necessarily the one from earlier) and had killed it. "You're safe now, scardy-cat," she chuckled when Jayden shot her a look.

"I was bit by a spider as a kid and rushed to the emergency room," Jayden sighed. "I was just a little boy and had a bad reaction. Ever since, I've been terrified. Now will you stop teasing me?"

Serena and Mike looked to each other and then shook their heads, "Nope."

"You both suck."

"Oh, c'mon, Jay," Mike took his seat at the table and continued to scratch his hand, "You've been fighting Nighlok for how long now? And a teeny tiny spider scares you? I mean, I would get… actually; you fight Nighlok for a living. You're not allowed to be afraid of anything."

"You fight Nighlok for a living too," Jayden smirked. "You're afraid of stuff."

"I'm not the red guy," Mike pinched his shirt, showing off his colour. "Besides, name one thing I'm scared of?"

Jayden cocked an eyebrow and smirked. Serena approached Mike from behind and leaned over to whisper in his ear, "Me."

Mike jumped and moved away from Serena, "That's different. She can kill me."

"I would never kill you, Mike," Serena put her hand on Mike's shoulder, squeezing tightly so it hurt, "Unless, you, you know, made my baby sister cry or did anything to her that I don't approve of. Then I would kill you. Slowly. So it hurts. A lot."

"See," Mike pointed to Serena as he gave Jayden a look, "That's scary. A spider…"

"Has venom and eight legs," Jayden said, "Serena's only got two."

"All I need is one to kick his ass," Serena smirked. She gave Mike a pat on the back, "Actually, I kicked your ass when I was paralyzed, remember that, Mike?"

"Scary!" Mike pointed to Serena to prove his point, "See, that's terrifying! An itty bitty, teeny-tiny spider is nothing to worry about. You step on it and it's gone. Dead. You're the bigger man, Jay…"

"I don't like spiders," Jayden said. "They're my Serena."

He put his bowl in the sink and made his way out of the room, "End of discussion."

Mike turned to Serena. She just grinned, "Boo."

"I haven't done anything to Emily," Mike said and stuck out his tongue, "You can't kill me."

"Yet," Serena picked up her bowl to take it outside to eat, "I'm just waiting for the day. And the longer it takes for the day to come, the more time I have to plan."

Mike shuttered as she walked out. Though she was one of his best friends, she scared the shit out of him sometimes.

"Mike!" Jayden called, "Training! Hurry up before I send Serena to come get you!"

"Coming!" Mike answered back and stood up. He pulled his hand up from the table and groaned when he found it was sticking slightly. He rubbed his hand against his pants, "Ha-ha, Serena," he muttered, "gluing my hand to the table. Ooh, I'm so scared."

When he got what he assumed was glue off his hand, he started to scratch it again. Boy, did it itch.

-Samurai-

No one attacked Emily. At least, not while Storm was around.

"Bad dog!" Kevin cried and as tried to pull the bottom of his pants out of Storm's mouth. She had gotten out of the house while the Rangers were training and saw Kevin swinging his sword at Emily. As usual, she didn't like seeing anyone putting the yellow Ranger in danger and she attacked.

Emily was too busy laughing to get her away from Kevin.

Mia leaned over and removed Kevin's pants from Storm's jaw. She picked the small dog up and walked her back inside the house, making sure to close the door so she couldn't get out. She then looked to her fiancé and started to laugh.

"Point: Storm."

"Ha, ha," Kevin frowned and straightened out his pants, "Just make sure she doesn't get out again."

"Why?" Emily smirked, "Scared she'll get another point?"

Kevin shook his head, "She could get hurt. What if we accidently hit her with a sword?"

"Don't hit her," Emily said, smacking Kevin in the arm.

Mia laughed again, "Point: Emily. C'mon, Kevin, pick it up. You're losing."

"Damn dog," Kevin rolled his eyes and got into his stance. Just as he and Emily were about to go at it, the Gap Sensor sounded. Jayden flipped open his Samuraizer to see the Nighlok's location."

"He's just entering city limits now," Jayden said. "We can cut him off before he starts terrorizing everyone."

As the Rangers dropped their training gear so Ji could put it all away while they were gone, Mike looked to the Gates and then down at his hand.

"Michael," Ji called. Mike looked up and everyone was already far down the path. Ji put a hand on his shoulder, "Are you okay?"

Mike looked to his hand again. It still itched but it was starting to hurt quite a bit. He flexed it, but that did nothing to help.

"It's just kind of sore," Mike answered. "It's just a spider bite."

"A spider bite, hmm?"

"I've been bit before," Mike said. He pulled his Samuraizer out of his pocket, "I'll be fine. Once the adrenaline kicks in, I doubt I'll even remember it's there."

Ji nodded his head and he let Mike go, but he had a strange feeling that something wasn't right. Knowing the Rangers would be gone for a while, he decided he would have a quick look around.

He knew it wasn't likely to be a Nighlok attack. The house was so well protected that it was impossible for a Nighlok to get beyond the gates. However, just because the Nighlok couldn't get it, that didn't mean they didn't have ways of messing with the Rangers.

He got inside the house and noticed a spider crawling up the wall. He chuckled to himself at the thought of Jayden's reaction while he squished the spider with his hand. When it was dead, Ji went to the common room to check the map. Just as he expected, there hadn't been a single trace of Nighlok activity up until the one just now that triggered the Gap Sensor.

So Ji went to his room next. Part of being a Samurai mentor was making sure his Samurai were all in good shape, and keeping them in good health. When they arrived at the Shiba House, their parents gave him access to all their medical files, as well as hard-copies of what they could get their hands on. Ji had also gotten in contact with each of the Samurai's families doctors just to be sure the information he had was correct. The last thing he needed was one of his Samurai dead because he had fed them a peanut, or in the hospital because of a medical condition that could have been avoided.

Mike had no record of allergies or sensitivities, and just as he had told Ji, he had been bit by a spider before and had seen a doctor for it, but it had never amounted to anything too concerning. Of course, things changed over time. Ji was going to have to keep an eye on the green Ranger. It was just a small bite, but sometimes that was all it took.


	3. Mike The SpiderMan

Mike was feeling sluggish as the Rangers defeated the Nighlok in his second form. He slumped over on his console, excited to get home and lie down for a nap.

"Are you okay?" Mia asked him as she placed a hand on his back. Mike nodded his head.

"Just tired."

"That fight wasn't really a big deal," Antonio turned to him. "Maybe you should rethink all-nighters in front of the TV."

"Yeah," Mike nodded. The Rangers jumped down from the Zords and collected the small creatures in their hands to carry them home.

On the way back, Mike was scratching his hand. Serena noticed and she had noticed him scratching it earlier as well. Before he could say anything she grabbed his hand and had a look for herself. She shook her head, "Mike, that bite's looking pretty bad. You know, the more you scratch, the more you work the venom into your system and the itchier you get."

"I thought spiders weren't dangerous," Jayden gave Mike and Serena a look.

"Doesn't mean the bites are a pain in the ass," Serena shrugged. She looked to Mike, "Maybe you should let Ji have a look…"

"I'm fine," Mike pulled his hand away and stuffed it in his pocket. He saw Emily giving him a worried look and sighed, "I'm serious. It's just itchy."

"If it's still itchy by tomorrow, then…"

"I'll talk to Ji, I promise," Mike gave her a comforting smile and wrapped his unbitten arm around her shoulders in a hug. "This isn't the first spider bite and it won't be the last. I'm okay, Em, I promise."

The rest of the way, Mike had to resist the urge to scratch, not just because of what Serena told him about working the venom into his system, but also because he wanted to prove that the bite wasn't a big deal and he could ignore it if he wanted to.

When he got home he went straight to bed and the others continued with their day.

"Watch! Watch!" Emily cried, racing into the room with Storm on her heels. She stopped, pulled out a dog cookie from her pocket and held it out to Storm. The dog focused all her attention on Emily, who smiled bright. The other Samurai watched curiously.

"What are you doing?"

"Storm, jump," Emily commanded and the small dog jumped into the air and spun in a circle, doing what looked like the canine version of a flip. Storm did this a couple of times before sitting at Emily's feet, waiting patiently for the cookie. Emily dropped it and Storm caught it in her mouth, chewing happily while the other Samurai looked on, impressed.

"That's pretty neat," Mia said. "We'll be able to charge people to watch the stunt dog if you keep this up."

"It took her ten minutes to learn that," Emily picked the small dog up and cuddled her. Storm snuggled into Emily's arms. It seemed there was nothing she wanted more than to make her owners happy. Though she loved her independence and she had no problem telling the Samurai she wanted some time to herself, she would never miss an opportunity to make the Rangers happy. She was a very loving dog.

"I'm glad you're happy, Emy," Serena smiled. As she had told Emily several times, there was no replacing Scruffy, but Serena felt much better now that Emily had a dog to love and play with again. In a way, Serena felt like she had robbed Emily of Scruffy and could finally make things right with Storm. Though it was a big risk bringing a new dog into the family it turned out to be a great thing. Everyone was happier.

"I'm going to teach her to hide Kevin's shoes, next," Emily smirked. She put the dog down and hurried into the common room. Storm followed, knowing Emily was still holding a handful of treats.

"My shoes?" Kevin asked and took off after the yellow Ranger and the dog, "Don't you dare teach her to even look at my shoes!"

"Too late!" Emily cried and Storm ran back into the common room with Kevin's shoe in her mouth. She darted under the table and gnawed on the shoe for all it was worth, while Kevin tried to get it away from her.

"Emily!"

Emily just looked to Kevin innocently, "She likes your shoes the best. I tried giving her chew toys instead, but nothing seems good enough."

"If she ruins them," Kevin ripped the show from Storm's mouth, causing her to whine and run back over to Emily. Emily picked her up and cuddled her while Kevin shot her looks, "You're paying for the new pair."

"Deal," Emily nodded. She set Storm back down, "Humans have two feet!"

"Emily, that's enough," Serena told her sister, though it was useless. Storm ran off the other way. Emily giggled.

"She only likes the left shoe."

"For your next trick," Mia said, "Teach her to leave shoes alone."

"I'll work on it," Emily nodded. She went after Storm, hoping she could catch her before the dog ruined something else. She was a clean dog but nothing could break her obsession with chewing on everything.

-Samurai-

Though Mike was tired, he knew he couldn't sleep. It was just one of those moments where it was useless to even try. After lying down in bed for half an hour he decided he would just get up and try to wake himself up.

When he peeled himself from the bed, he was literally peeling himself from the bed. He looked down, seeing the sticky, gluey substance he had found on his hands before had now coated his bed.

"When did she have time to do this," he tore the sheets from the bed. He would have to wash them now. He assumed it was Serena trying to mess with him. Sometimes he didn't understand her humour. He dumped the sheets by the door, swearing to himself he would get them in the washing machine eventually.

Splashing his face with cold water would usually help to wake him up so he headed to the bathroom. He touched the doorknob to open the door and found his hand stuck to the knob. He frowned curiously, peeling his hand away and staring at it. He touched the doorknob with the other hand. It stuck as well.

"This is not funny," he muttered. He turned the doorknob and touched the door to push it open. His hand stuck there as well.

This was strange. Though the Samurai did on some occasion pull pranks on each other, normally they wouldn't go as far as booby-trapping the entire house. All the doorknobs, yes. The kitchen table, yes. The beds, of course. The doors? That was taking it a little far. Mike peeled his hand off the door and grumbled. He walked into the bathroom and touched the sink. Again, his hand stuck.

"What the hell?" he asked himself. His hands were sticking to everything. He put his hand on the wall. Surely, if this was a prank, Serena wouldn't have covered the walls. Unfortunately, his hand stuck. Either she had been extremely thorough or something was wrong. He pressed his other hand against the wall. It stuck as well.

It stuck in a weird way. He could pull it off with very little effort, but his hand was stuck to the wall. It wouldn't come off unless he willed it too. Mike pulled his hand off and looked at the spider bite. Curiosity and playfulness suddenly got the best of him. He touched the wall again and tried his luck with climbing it. Pressing both feet against the wall, he pulled himself up horizontally and made it a few feet up. Mike looked down, impressed, in awe, and terrified.

"What's going on?" though he was confused, he wanted to see how far this would go. Maybe he was just dreaming. If he was, he was going to take advantage of this, "Dude! I'm Spider-Mike!"

He climbed up the wall and onto the ceiling. Gravity had no effect. He jumped from the ceiling, back onto the wall, hanging impossibly with only his hands and feet as support. He crawled along the walls, back into his bedroom. Sticking to the walls, he got himself into the corner just as Emily walked in. Mike didn't say a word; he just watched her, as silent and still as he could be, from the top corner of the room.

Emily walked in, and then walked out. She hadn't even noticed Mike _on the ceiling_. When she was gone he jumped down and landed on his feet gracefully.

"This kicks ass," he smiled. He looked at his spider bite, "I don't care how much you itch, if you give me dreams like this, you can stay as long as you want!"

He jumped back onto the walls and started crawling around, enjoying the freedom.

But that only lasted him so long before he got bored. He noticed a spider friend had joined him on the ceiling and had made a web. Mike thought that looked interesting. He liked the idea of a bed on the ceiling. He looked to his spider bite and figured it wouldn't hurt to try spinning a web. After all, he assumed this was just a dream and as a little boy he had wanted to be Spider-Man.

Silk shot out from his hand, where the spider had bit him. Mike was impressed. He stuck it between the two walls and decided to shot out another thread, and another, and another. Eventually, the entire room became him web. Mike laid down in it and closed his eyes. Finally he was comfortable.

He eventually drifted off to sleep.


	4. From The Netherworld

It was getting late and the Samurai were slowly heading off to bed. Jayden and Antonio were first. Though they had recovered for the most part from their assault, they still tired quickly. The Samurai also assumed they liked a little time to themselves in their room before bed.

Serena was next to go. Ji announced he was going to bed after that. Emily was left alone with Mia and Kevin and decided she wouldn't play third-wheel to their late night flirting, She wished them goodnight and left for her room.

Kevin and Mia chuckled as she left. She went one way and Storm went right to her dog bed to lie down. It seemed that without proper training, Storm had learned the command goodnight meant bedtime.

"C'mon, Kevin. That's pretty cute," Mia said. Kevin continued to stare at his shoe. Storm had taken it with her to bed and when she was asleep he would take it back and put it somewhere she couldn't reach.

Before he could share his plan with Mia, the two heard a loud, terrified scream from Emily. Mia's heart jumped in her throat and Kevin had a look of panic. Both raced off down the hall to see what had caused their yellow Ranger to scream. From the sound of footsteps pounding around the rest of the house, they could tell Emily had woken everyone up.

Mia and Kevin were the first to reach the bedroom and stopped dead in their tracks. The whole room was one big spider web and Emily was tangled in it. "Mia…" she cried as she tried to pull free, but all her attempts only caused the web to continue to wrap itself around her.

"Stay still, Emy," Mia said and turned to Kevin for some help. He reached out to touch a part of the web and found it was exactly like a human sized spider web, which meant it was too strong to simply break and really sticky. Kevin really had to pull hard to get his hand off. He couldn't imagine the strength it would take to get Emily's entire body out of the web.

"What happened in here?" he asked her as he looked around, trying to figure out the source of the web, "Where's Mike?"

Storm started barking and whining loudly. She had run into the room and had gotten herself tangled up in the web as well. Mia knelt down beside her, touching her fur where there was no web to try and calm her down. She noticed Storm looking up at something and followed her gaze to see what had caught her eye.

"Holy shit, Kevin…" Mia got up and baked away from the web. She pointed up into the corner, where Mike was suspended like a spider from the web – his web.

"That is no ordinary spider bite," Kevin muttered.

Jayden and the others arrived, skidding to a stop when they saw the web. Ji, Antonio, and Serena looked in awe. Jayden was terrified. How big was the spider that had made a web this size?

"Serena!" Emily cried. All her struggling had tangled quite a bit of the web around her body. She couldn't get out and she had already seen Mike staring at her like she was nothing more than prey, which if this was his web, she was. She was terrified. Something had happened to Mike.

"We'll get you out, Emily," Serena promised and turned to Jayden, "You have to burn it."

"Burn it?" Emily cried and shook her head, "No!"

Jayden agreed with Emily and backed away, frozen in fear. He hadn't yet seen it was Mike who made the web and couldn't get the image of a giant spider out of his head.

"Hold still, Emily," Mia repeated. "We'll get you down."

Emily tried to do as she was told. She tried to keep still, but in the corner of her eye she could see Mike watching her, waiting for the right moment to do something, she wasn't sure what.

"Jayden!" Serena shouted when she saw the red Ranger backing away in fear, "Burn it, you moron! Get her out!"

Jayden pulled out his Samuraizer with a shaky hand. He traced a symbol in the air but nothing happened. He wasn't focused at all.

"Jayden!" Serena shouted at him again. Jayden didn't respond at all. Serena growled. The web was too thick and too strong to be cut with her sword, but that didn't mean she couldn't use it. She summoned her sword from symbol power and then stabbed at Jayden, piercing the sword through the wall right beside his head. Jayden's fear suddenly shifted from the web to her as she gave him a look that was sure to kill, "burn the web or I'll cut off your head and feed that to the spider instead of my sister!"

"It's not a spider," Mia said and pointed to Mike, "it also wasn't a regular spider bite."

"C'mon, Jay," Antonio took his hand and held it tight, "Five seconds of being brave. You can do it."

Jayden gulped and nodded his head. He closed his eyes and focused on his symbol power. Flames lit up under Emily and Storm, lighting the silk web on fire. Jayden controlled the flames so they wouldn't burn Emily or the dog. When the two dropped out of the web, Jayden let out the breath he was holding in and doubled over. Antonio pulled him back up and into his arms to tell him he had done a great job.

"Are you okay?" Serena asked, pulling her sister back up to her feet. Emily grabbed Storm, wrapped her tightly in her arms and then nestled into Serena's for comfort. That was when they heard the hiss and Mike started making his way over, across the web. Serena got to her feet and pulled her sister out of the room. The door was slammed shut behind the two of them, locking Mike in the room and keeping the Rangers out.

"It's not long before he finds a way out," Kevin said. He grabbed Mia's arm and started to lead her down the hall while he signalled for the others to follow him, "C'mon, guys."

They made their way down the hall and over to Serena's bedroom. It was the furthest from Mike and Emily's and had only one way in and one way out. It would trap them there if Mike did come after them, but they would also know when he was coming. When everyone was inside, Kevin used symbol power to seal the door and did the same around the windows, just in case.

"I don't know if that'll stop him," Kevin said, "but it'll slow him…"

"SPIDER!" Jayden screamed and crashed onto the floor. He pointed to a spot on the wall where a tiny spider decided to rest during his climb to the ceiling. Antonio found Serena's shoe and smashed it into the bug.

"This is getting ridiculous," he groaned. "Why are there spiders everywhere? Did someone leave a window open or something?"

"Yeah," Serena grumbled. Her arms were still wrapped tightly around Emily and Storm, who were trembling in fear, "That's my first question. Why are there common spiders in the house? I just rescued my sister from a life sized web spun by my brother in-law, but I want to know about that tiny spider on my wall."

"Sarcasm is not appreciated," Antonio muttered. "I meant, why are we suddenly being invaded by spiders and does that have anything to do with whatever's going on with Mike."

"This isn't a prank, is it?" Jayden asked, trying to recompose himself. "If it is… like that Halloween prank we did on Mike… it's not funny."

"This is no joke," Ji said. He approached Serena's desk and opened up her laptop, "I'll need to get in contact with some friends. They may be able to help."

"Contact whoever you want," Serena nodded. She rested her head on top of her sister's and rocked her gently. "Emy, it's okay. We'll figure this out

Mia took a seat on Serena's bed. Kevin sat down with her and wrapped his arms around her.

"What are you thinking?"

"That this is not normal," Mia said. Kevin nodded his head.

"I know that, but… what explanation do we have? Nighlok can't get in here. The shield is still up, right?"

"As powerful as ever," Ji said as he typed away on Serena's computer. "This is why I need to do a little research on the symbols we've used for our home. I'm afraid it is not enough anymore."

"Like, the Nighlok are getting stronger?" Antonio gulped. He did not like the idea of a Nighlok waltzing right into the Shiba House. If humans couldn't go to the Netherworld, the Nighlok shouldn't be allowed near the Shiba House.

"No," Ji shook his head, "but I worry they have found a way to get in."

"Without getting in?" Jayden frowned. "Ji, that's impossible. Either they can or can't. They can't… can't can…"

"What?" Antonio looked to Jayden curiously. He just waved it off and looked to Ji.

"Tell us exactly what you're thinking."

Ji sighed, "The Netherworld is full of creatures. It is not just the Nighlok who reside down there."

Serena nodded her head, "Dekker once told me about creatures called furryworts. Most of them live with Xandred on his ship, but they're a species that can be found all over the Netherworld. Dekker even believed they could travel to and from our world without being detected because they are harmless. They're just little tiny Nighlok heads, who can only bit you if you stick your finger in their mouths. They sing, and just repeat everything they hear. It annoys the hell out of the Nighlok, but they are like weeds. You can't get rid of them."

"So?" Antonio asked. "Mike's done some stupid stuff, but I doubt he stuck his hand in a furryworts mouth. Besides, he knows he was bit by a spider. He's turned into some kind of spider-man."

"No, listen to me," Serena said, "I think Ji's right. If the furryworts can come into our world without being detected, what else can? We hold out the Nighlok because they obviously want to kill us, but we can't protect ourselves against something we don't see coming."

"Nighlok spiders?" Jayden's face was white as a sheet. He looked like he was about to pass out. Serena nodded her head.

"Yep, Nighlok spider. That's the only logical explanation I can think of. Peter Parker aside, how many humans do you know who get bit by a spider and turn into one?"

"There's always a second case to an epidemic," Antonio shrugged and was then smacked in the back of the head by Mia.

"Peter Parker is fiction."

"Serena's theory is exactly what I am looking into," Ji nodded. "I should have an answer for you all by morning at the latest."

"Until then, what do we do?" Kevin asked. "We can't exactly go out there. We have no idea what we're dealing with when it comes to Mike."

"Let's just… try and get some sleep," Serena said. "There's no point knowing what's wrong with Mike if we're too tired to fix it."

"Sleep," Jayden nodded, still pale as ever, "Good idea."

He swayed on his feet for a moment before passing out. Antonio dropped down beside him, pulling him into his arms and trying to wake him back up.

"Uh, we might need to rely on our back-up leader for this one," Antonio looked to Kevin. "Jayden's never been good with spiders."


	5. The Human Spider

The Samurai spent the night in Serena's room. It was the only safe place they had from Mike while Ji did a little research to figure out the cause of his condition. By now it was clear that there was something unusual going on in with the green Ranger, and the sooner they found out, the better.

Ji passed out at his computer, though. Even he needed some sleep. So for a few quiet hours, the entire house slept peacefully. Mike up in his web somewhere in the house, and all the others curled up on or around Serena's bed.

Storm was the first one up. She had held it in as long as she could but now she needed to use the washroom. She nudged Emily's face, hoping she could be let outside. She knew better than to relieve herself inside. It was disgusting.

She nudged and whined until Emily woke up. She gave her mistress the look that begged she go outside. Emily looked to the door and then over to the window. She had no idea where Mike was inside the house but she could tell he wasn't outside. She picked up her dog and started for the window, quietly undoing the seal around it and slipping out into the yard.

"Make it quick," she whispered to the dog as she set her down on the ground to do her business, "I don't know where Mike is."

Storm put her nose to the ground and started sniffing around. She had a place to go, but she always loved to take her time to do it properly. Emily followed her around the yard so that the cleanup would be quick and she could hurry back inside, put the seal back up and she and her friends would all be safe.

Safe… from Mike? That didn't sound right to Emily. Something had happened. This wasn't the Mike she knew, and she knew Mike well. Though he was reckless and sometimes thoughtless, he never intentionally tried to hurt anyone. He had issues with his anger, and occasionally lost control and someone else paid the price, but he always regretted it once he calmed down. Though the others were always angry with him, Emily knew better. No one could hurt Mike more than his own conscious. No one could punish him more than he could punish himself.

So before something bad happened, she and the others needed to help him. She didn't want him to feel guilty for all this. She didn't want him to blame himself. She knew he would never behave this way if he had control over his own body.

As Storm finally found a place to do her business, Emily thought she heard something over the wall. Nighlok couldn't get into the Shiba House, but they could go near. The Gap Sensor hadn't gone off, but a few cunning Nighlok had been around long enough to know where the sensors were and how the avoid them. Octoroo was one of them. Emily recognised his voice and quietly traced a symbol to raise the earth right behind the fence so she could peek over the wall.

It was, in fact, Octoroo on the other side and he had a jar in his hands. Emily furrowed her brow and squinted her eyes just a little to get a better look at the jar. She gasped, almost giving herself away when she saw the jar was full of spiders. Octoroo was unleashing the spiders into the Shiba House after capturing them from the Netherworld. Serena's theory had been right.

"Ooh, ah, ooh, I'll show the Rangers a thing or two about messing with the Master and Serrator. They think it's time to rest, but these little spiders will keep them on their toes. Bite, little spiders."

Emily lowered the earth and sat down with her back to the fence. Storm raced over to her, jumping into her lap to say she was done and ready to go back inside. Emily held her close and pushed herself up. She had to cross the yard to get back, but as long as she was quiet and Storm didn't smell or hear Octoroo and suspect he was any danger, she could do it.

Just when she believed it, she heard a hiss. Mike had come outside and was standing at the front door. If Emily sprinted it was possible to make it back to the window before he caught her, but she would have to run really, really fast.

"M-Mike," her voice cracked. She didn't want to be scared of Mike. She had no reason to be scared of Mike. He would never do anything to hurt her. But this wasn't Mike. It just looked like Mike.

Storm was about to bark, but Emily grabbed her snout, keeping it closed. She didn't want to wake the others and she didn't want the sudden bark to startle Mike. If he was turning into a spider, a startled spider might attack.

He hissed again and Emily saw the fangs in his mouth. The web, his ability to climb walls, and now the fangs; he was turning into a real spider. A human-sized spider.

"Mike, I know this isn't you," she inched her way closer and closer to the window, hoping he would run to attack. "I know you love Spider-Man but isn't this taking things a bit too far?"

Storm was squirming in her arms, trying to wriggle free and trying to bark to protect Emily, but the yellow Ranger wasn't letting her go. Emily would never let her go. She wouldn't let what happened to Scruffy happened to Storm. Now that she knew Octoroo was involved, she knew this was the Nighlok's doing. Storm would never need to fight the Nighlok.

Octoroo… his spiders! He had unleashed them and surely they had crawled under the gate by now. Surely they were scattered in the yard. They were small, and they looked exactly like regular spiders.

Emily whimpered, feeling the panic, and she raced for the window. Her suddenly movement threatened Mike and he attacked, lunging for her. From his hand he shot out a web, which wrapped itself around her feet, constricting them tightly together. Emily hit the ground hard and dropped Storm. Her small dog raced away from her and attacked Mike. Though she was small, she had the spirit of a big dog. She tackled Mike, knocking him off balance so he landed on the floor. She stood on his chest and barked loudly, as if screaming at him to see sense.

Instead, Mike grabbed her in his hands and bit her neck. Storm yelped in pain and Emily could see it all happening again. If one small spider bite could turn Mike into a monster, what could one human sized bite do to one small dog?

She traced a symbol, creating a rock in her hand. She threw it at Mike and when it hit him in the forehead she regretted it for two reasons. The first being she had just hit Mike in the head with a rock, and the second being she had angered him. He dropped the dog and lunged for her. Emily's eyes widened when she saw him coming but she knew she couldn't panic. She quickly traced another symbol and another rock, this time slightly bigger, appeared in her hand. She couldn't get away because her feet were bound, but she knew she could stop Mike. He tried to bite her, but she stuffed the rock in his mouth, pushing hard so it was in there with no hope of coming out anytime soon. Tears filled her eyes but she knew she had to do it. It would hurt Mike, but she knew he would be more hurt if he realized he hurt her. She couldn't let him live with that again. This wasn't his fault, but if he hurt her, no one would see it that way.

"Mike, please," she begged, "I know you're in there. I… AH!"

Though the fangs in his mouth were covered by the rock, Emily hadn't counted for the sharp claws that his nails had become. Angered for throwing the rock and stuffing one in his mouth, Mike had swiped at her. She saw his arm moving once and had time to react, lifting both her feet to kick him away, but she hadn't see the other one coming and he swiped at her knee.

"Get me a really big shoe," Emily heard Serena say. Of course, all the shouting and whining had woken the Samurai up. Mike saw them coming and turned his attention from Emily to them. There were more of them and they were bigger. He was threatened but he was smart enough to know that taken them all one would mean defeat. With the rock still lodged in his mouth, he turn and ran, climbing over the fence and leaving the safety of the Shiba yard.

Emily watched him go and then felt a throbbing pain in her knee. She looked down and saw the cuts. They were deep and they were painful. But she pulled the bottom of her pant leg down to cover it up right before the others arrived.

"Are you okay?" Serena knelt down beside her. Emily shook her hand and pointed over to Storm.

"Mike bit her!" Emily screeched. Serena looked to her sister, then over to the dog. Because Emily had covered up the cuts on her knee, she looked fine to Serena. The older sister groaned and gave Kevin and Jayden a pat on the shoulder before racing over to Storm with the boys. Emily was not going to lose another dog.

Mia and Antonio stayed with Emily. It was easy to see the web around her feet and they needed to find a way to get it off without hurting her.

"Jayden can…"

"No," Emily shook her head. If the web came off, the Samurai would expect her to walk. With the current state of her knee that was impossible. They would know she was hurt, they would know Mike had done it and they would blame him. They would be angry with him and once he was back to his normal self, he would blame himself. She couldn't have that.

"Em, it's just Jayden burning it…"

"He's helping Storm," Emily said, "besides, what if he does burn me?"

"You know he won't," Mia put her hand on Emily's shoulder, "He'll be…"

"No," Emily shook her head. "I don't want to try it again, I…" she trailed off when she spotted a spider crawling up Antonio's arm and she remembered again that they were loose. If the spider bit Antonio, he would turn into a creature like Mike. With a shaky hand, she pointed to the spider. Antonio looked down, saw the small creature and jumped. He swatted the spider away and then shook himself silly, just to be sure any other spiders were gone.

"Let's go inside," Mia said, quickly realizing that outside wasn't safe anymore because of the spiders. She wrapped one arm around Emily's back, just under her shoulders, and the other under her knees. Antonio did the same on the other side and the two lifted Emily up. Emily had to bite her lips to keep from screaming in pain because of her knee. They carried her back in through the window and set her down on Serena's bed. Serena, Jayden, and Kevin came in soon after with Storm curled up in Serena's hands. The older earth Samurai gently laid the dog down on Emily's lap.

"If it is a Netherworld spider, Kevin flushed out the Sanzu poison with his water," Serena whispered.

Ji came over. He had heard and seen all the drama outside and had prepared an antivenom for Storm, hoping it would work. He would need a much larger dose for Mike, as the venom had spread way too far into his system, but this quantity he had now was enough to hopefully work on Storm. As Emily held the small dog down, Ji stuck the needle in, releasing the antivenom. When it was done, he wrapped Storm in a blanket to keep her warm and comfortable. Emily cuddled her close, hoping they had done enough for her.

"What the hell were you thinking?" Serena shouted at Emily now that the danger had passed, "Going outside by yourself…"

"Mike wasn't out there," Emily responded. "Storm needed to pee and…"

"One accident is a lot easier to deal with than losing the two of you!" Serena screamed. "What if Mike had bit you?"

Emily lowered her head and cuddled her dog a little closer, "I'm sorry."

"You're staying here from now on," Serena said. She pointed to the webbing around Emily's feet, "and that's staying on so I know you're not getting yourself into trouble again! Ji…"

"I will watch her," Ji nodded his head. Now that he had used all the antivenom he had created on Storm, he needed to make a new dose, and a much larger one, and he needed to make sure it actually worked on Storm before he tried it again on Mike. There was no sense injecting Mike with a serum that wouldn't work.

Serena glared at her little sister, "Stay out of trouble. We'll be back soon."

"Don't hurt him," Emily said. Serena nodded her head and the team headed out. Even if he was turning into a spider human, they couldn't let Mike venture off on his own. Though he was a danger, he was also vulnerable.

As they left, Emily wrapped the blankets around her legs, acting as though it was to keep her and Storm warm, but really she just didn't want Ji to see the cuts. She didn't want Mike getting in trouble.

Outside the house, the Rangers were watching their step. Antonio warned them about the spiders and how they needed to be on the lookout so no one else was bit. Jayden couldn't get across the yard fast enough.

As Mia and Serena walked, side by side, Mia gently grabbed Serena's arm.

"You know, the more time I spend with the two of you, the more I realize you two are a lot alike."

Serena nodded her head, "and it scares me to death."


	6. How To Trap A Spider 101

Jayden couldn't believe how terrified he was. Just the thought of running into another spider or even of seeing Mike sent shivers down his spine. He stuck close to Antonio, grabbing his boyfriend's hand when he thought he felt something brush against his leg.

He didn't know if he had it in him to face a spider, especially a human one. He was terrified, but this was something he had to do. As team leader, as red Ranger, as Jayden Shiba he needed to help his friends, no matter what. He wouldn't lose a Ranger, especially to a measly spider.

"This is the plan," Kevin said. Because of Jayden's fear, he had taken the lead and Jayden was more than happy to let him go with it. Kevin had a clearer mind and would be able to come up with a better plan faster, meaning they could get Mike home and back to normal faster. Kevin looked to each of his teammates as he continued, "We grab him, and by any means necessary we get him home."

"Any means?" Antonio asked, "what does that…"

"Alive and unharmed," Kevin specified, "but any means within those limits."

"And if that's not possible?" Mia asked. She didn't like to question Kevin's authority, but this was Mike they were talking about, and his condition was far from normal. They really had no clue what they were up against and had to be ready for the fact that it was maybe too late.

"Just, don't do anything to get yourselves harmed in any way," Kevin said. He pulled out his Samuraizer and morphed and the others followed his lead. One extra layer between them and Mike was never a bad thing. "Ji'll be working on a serum for him now. All we got to do is get him home and try out that serum. Don't hurt him too badly or at all if possible. Serena."

"Yeah?"

"This is not an opportunity to kick his ass. If he's still in there, he's probably more terrified than we are."

"Doubtful," Jayden muttered.

"Should we split up?" Antonio asked. Kevin shook his head.

"Bad things happen when we split up. We'll stick together. Seeing as we don't have Mike to guide us through the forest, Serena, you'll lead the way. Earth and forest are closely connected. See if you can track him down. I'll bring up the rear and make sure there's no surprise attack. Mia, Antonio, you two keep an eye peeled for anything Serena and I may have missed."

"And me?" Jayden asked.

Kevin chuckled, clapping his hand on Jayden's shoulder, "Try not to ruin everything with your arachnophobia."

Jayden nodded his head. It sounded like a good plan.

The Rangers followed Serena through the woods. Trying to find a human spider was turning out to be more difficult than they imagined. They searched high and low, but Mike was nowhere to be found.

"Anyone know a spider call?" Antonio asked as he took a seat on a rock, "The forest is huge, we could be at this for hours."

"What if he's in the city?" Jayden said, gulping as he did.

Kevin shook his head, "He's human sized and he's probably got so much Sanzu Water poisoning in him that he would trigger the Gap Sensors. The fact that he hasn't means there's a good chance he's here."

"Great…" Jayden muttered.

"Well, wait," Mia said, "He's a Nighlok spider, right? Nighlok are always drawn to the Sanzu Water. Remember Arachnitor?"

"I hate today," Jayden grumbled. Antonio wrapped his arms around him.

"But Mike's human," he said, "he won't need water."

"That doesn't mean he's not drawn to it," Serena smiled and started racing through the trees, "C'mon, I saw a pool open up the other day and I've been meaning to bury it. If we make it in time, we might find Mike!"

-Samurai-

Though Emily was confined to the bed, both because of her injury and because of the web about her feet, there was no place else she would rather be (aside from hunting Mike down, but even then, the thought of hunting her fiancé didn't sit well with her). While Ji worked on coming up with something to help Mike, Emily sat with her dog, nursing the poor shiba as she tried to recover from the bite.

The serum Ji had given her worked to treat the poison, but there was still a matter of the wound itself. Storm seemed to be feeling better but she had difficulty walking, hell, she had trouble getting up.

"You'll be okay," Emily whispered while stroking her dog's back gently. Storm stuck by her side, partly by choice, partly because it hurt to move. When Mike bit her, he had bit near her leg. Ji had assured Emily it would heal in time, but while she recovered, Storm was going to have to take it easy. No running around, no playing, and certainly no chasing after monsters or small prey. She was confined to bed.

"I think I've got it," Ji smiled, holding up a bottle full of a dark liquid that made Emily stick her tongue out. He chuckled and then set it down on Serena's desk before walking over to Emily. He touched the webbing around her feet, "I know what your sister said, but as long as you promise to stay here with me, I can work on…"

"It's okay," Emily shook her head. Taking the webbing off would mean she had no excuse for not walking around. She couldn't be limping. She couldn't let the others see her cuts. Mike would get into trouble and she didn't want that. He had suffered enough. "I've got nowhere to go anyways, right?"

Ji furrowed his brow but nodded his head, "I guess," he turned his attention to the window, "Now all we need to worry about are those spiders invading the house. We're safe in here, but it's Dayu's siege all over again. We'll need to find a way to get rid of them."

"How do you kill Nighlok spiders?" Emily asked. "It's not like we can chop them up with our swords like regular Nighlok. They're too small and there's too many of them."

"We'll need to find their weakness."

"What about a vacuum?" Emily asked. Ji shot her a strange look so she continued, "When there used to be a spider or bug in our room, Serena would take the vacuum and suck it right up."

"How to ensure we get them all?"

Emily shrugged her shoulders, trying to think of what she knew about spiders. Growing up on the farm, she had encountered many. For the most part, when she saw them outside or in the barn, she left them alone. Even in her house she dared not touch them. Her room, however, had been off limits. Any spider that dared entered her bedroom met its maker thanks to a tissue and a strong pinch.

Then it hit her; a story her father had shared with her long ago about spiders, "Spiders eat other spiders! Females eat the males after mating! And the cats! We had stray cats coming all the time on the farm. They would always kill and eat the spiders."

Ji smirked. He picked up his Samuraizer and traced a symbol. Suddenly, a cat appeared on the floor of Serena's bedroom.

"No sense putting a real cat in danger of Sanzu poisoning," Ji smirked. He opened the bedroom door, letting the cat out to do her work while he summoned up a vacuum. Whatever the cat couldn't catch, he would get with the vacuum. He could suck them up and then sink them in earth's water, which was toxic to the creatures from the Netherworld. It was a better plan than flooding his entire house. He gave Emily a smile, "You stay here. If the others return, show them the serum. It should work."

Emily nodded her head and as soon as Ji was gone she pulled the blankets away from her knees and had a look at her cut. Storm started to whimper, as though she shared Emily pain. Although, given the wound on her leg, she likely did.

"I'll be fine," Emily summoned up some bandages, a symbol she had learned as a kid. She started to wrap her knee up. When she was done, she did the same for Storm. "There, we match. But you can't tell anyone okay? Mike's going to have enough to worry about as it is. He doesn't need to worry about me and he doesn't need the others mad at him for hurting me."

Storm whimpered again but Emily gave her a pat on the head, "It's okay. I'll take care of it."

-Samurai-

"Over there," Serena said, gesturing over the rock the Samurai had ducked behind. The small pool of Sanzu water had drawn Mike in, just as she had expected. Now they just needed a way to get him home safely.

"How do we get him home?" Jayden asked. "I doubt the tissue method is going to work."

"I'm going to need a really big paper and cup," Kevin said. All eyes turned to him so he shrugged, "What? You guys kill spiders, I usually release them. If we can trap Mike like I trap spiders, we can get him home without a struggle. All we need is bait."

"My least favourite words," Jayden groaned. He already knew what the others were thinking. Antonio gave him a pat on the back.

"Well, you are scared of them," he said, "You'll be running anyways, and you'll be so scared, you'll run faster than any of us. Mike won't catch you."

"If you do this," Mia smiled, "We'll never make fun of your fear of spiders again."

Jayden took a deep breath. He knew someone had to be bait, and odds were that if he did need to face Spider-Mike, he would just freeze up or run away and be of no use to the team. He closed his eyes. He needed to trust that his team would keep him safe. He needed to put his fate in their hands.

"Alright," he said, "I'll do it."

"There's the fearless leader we all know and love," Antonio gave him a hug and then pushed him out from behind the rock, "Don't get yourself killed and make sure you tire him out so he doesn't put up much of a fight. We'll work on making a suitable trap to get him home safely."

Jayden gulped and looked to Mike. The green spider-Ranger was sitting by the puddle of water, examining it. He turned around when he heard Jayden get closer and hissed at the red Ranger. Jayden saw that while Mike still looked like a human, many of his features were changing. The fangs in his mouth were longer, he had a little more hair than normal and his behaviour mimicked that of a spider.

It was enough to cause Jayden to scream loudly, turn around, and run.


	7. Exterminated

Jayden ran like his life depended on it, because in a way, it did. Mike was coming after him, and using any means necessary to catch him. He had shot out web after web to try and pin Jayden to a tree or the ground, he was jumping from branch to branch, trying to shorten his route to the red Ranger and attacking from the air. Jayden, with a scream each time, managed to jump out of Mike's way and avoid a nasty bite.

Until one of the webs Mike shot at him got caught up in his legs and Jayden hit the ground. He tried to crawl away, but Mike jumped on top of him. Jayden let out a hellish scream, thinking Mike was going to bite, but instead, the green Ranger wrapped Jayden up, head to toe, inside his web.

A few yards away, the others had come up with their plan on the go and were finally ready to capture Mike. They hadn't intended for Jayden to get wrapped up, but the green spider Ranger was still enough for the trap to work. Kevin traced a large symbol and a huge cup appeared over Mike's head. Before the spider-human could realize what was happening, the cup fell on top of him. He jumped around, smashing himself into the glass walls, finding it impossible to get out. Serena lifted the ground below him, sealing the bottom so there was no escape.

"Can you hold that until we get home?" Mia asked, putting her hand on Serena's back. The white Ranger nodded. It was going to take a lot of energy, but she knew she could do it. She would just need a long nap once this was all over with.

"Wait," Antonio said as he ran to the giant cup. Kevin lifted it slightly so he could get inside without releasing Mike. The green Ranger was too distracted trying to escape to notice Antonio. The gold Ranger picked up Jayden and carried him out to safety.

"Jayden," he called as he set his boyfriend down, "You're safe. Trace a symbol and burn the web."

Though it wasn't stretchy like spandex, inside the web Jayden could stretch his bindings just enough to draw a symbol. Fortunately, his Samuraizer had already been in his hand from when he had tried to defend himself against Mike. His body burned, the web caught fire and melted around him, freeing him. Jayden shot up into Antonio's arms, terrified. His only thought until he had heard Antonio's voice was that he was going to be a giant spider's midday snack.

"You're really fearless, Jay," Antonio held him tight, "That was awesome."

"Mia, Serena, and I will take care of Mike from here on out," Kevin said, giving Jayden a pat on the back, "Why don't you and Antonio go fishing or something? We'll call you when the coast is all clear and all the spiders are gone."

"Sounds great," Antonio answered and he could feel Jayden nodding his head in approval. He helped his boyfriend up and the two of them started for the stream. Jayden tried to wipe away the tears in his eyes. He had never been so scared of something so silly before in his life. No one else was terrified of Mike. No one else was terrified of spiders. It was humiliating.

But Antonio gave him a comforting hug and a gentle kiss, "We're all impressed, Jayden. It takes real guts to face your fears like that. I'm proud of you."

Jayden stopped dead in his tracks, "What?"

"Jay, I was scared of fish, remember?" Antonio chuckled. "We've all got little phobias. You faced your fears head on. You didn't run away, you didn't abandon the team or Mike. I'm really, really proud of you, and I admire that a lot."

"Well… I did run away," Jayden smiled.

"All part of the plan," Antonio gave him another kiss, "Mike's still captured because of you. He'll get treatment because of you. He'll be human again because of you. You're an amazing leader, Jay. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

Jayden smiled brightly and wrapped his arms around Antonio. He was still terrified of spiders, but he had just come face to face with the biggest spider he would ever meet. Maybe they all weren't that bad.

-Samurai-

Mia, Kevin, and Serena got Mike back into the Shiba yard, and before the symbols and the giant cup disappeared, they wanted to make sure he couldn't get out. They created as shield around the yard that he couldn't cross and they released him. Mike saw them as a threat obviously after they had trapped him, and lunged for them the moment he was freed.

"Don't let him bite you!" Serena shouted as Kevin jumped between her and Mike to wrestle him to the ground, "We have no idea what happened to Storm."

"Put the rocks back in his mouth," Kevin cried to Serena. Mike obviously knew a way to work them out, because the rocks Emily had stuffed in his mouth were now gone, but the Samurai would take anything that slowed him down. Serena summoned rocks and as Kevin pinned Mike to the ground, she jammed them in his mouth, expanding them slightly once they were behind his teeth, just to make it a little harder to work them out. When Mike realized he was eating rocks, he pulled away from Kevin and tried as best as he could to get them out.

Mia ran inside the house, climbing in through Serena's window. During the night, Mike had been left alone in the house and he had covered it in spider webs. Serena's bedroom was the only safe place to be. When Mia was inside, she turned to the bed. Emily was exactly where they had left her. She saw Mia and pointed to the serum Ji had created.

"It worked on Storm," she said.

Mia nodded her head and grabbed the serum and the syringe Ji had also left on the desk. She ripped it from the packaging that kept it sterile and then put the serum into the syringe. She hurried back outside and saw Mike still struggling with the rocks. He was so distracted she could walk right up to him. She jammed the needle into his arm and injected him with as much serum as possible.

Mike fell limp, looking lifeless. Mia was worried she had hurt him, but Kevin checked him for a pulse and checked his breathing. He assured her they were both fine. Serena removed the stones from his mouth.

"Get the first aid kit," Kevin told Mia as he grabbed Mike's hand to look at the bite that had started it all. It looked disgusting, like it had somehow gotten badly infected. Sure it was the Sanzu water doing its thing, Kevin used a symbol to wash Mike's hand in water.

"C'mon, Mike," Kevin grumbled as he got as much water into Mike as possible. He tapped the green Ranger's cheek. The only thing that would work at really flushing the poison out was if Mike drank enough regular water, and unless Kevin wanted to drown the younger Samurai, Mike needed to drink it himself. "Wake up, Mike. You can nap when this is all over with. You can sleep in for the rest of the week without a comment from me if you just wake up now!"

Mia came back with the first aid kit and started working on cleaning up and wrapping up Mike's hand so it would heal. His clawed hands were turning back into regular human hands, which meant the serum was working, but there was still the matter of the Sanzu poisoning. Now that Mike was turning back into a human, his body wouldn't be able to handle the poisonous water.

Serena sat on the sidelines, biting her nails. Though she constantly teased Mike and threatened him with pain, she couldn't imagine anything happening to him. He was her little brother, and if she needed to, she would defend him just like she would defend Emily.

"C'mon, Mike," she whispered.

After what seemed like an eternity, Mike's eyes fluttered open. Kevin pulled him up into a seated position and poured the water into his mouth, gently telling the green Ranger he needed to swallow as much as he could. Kevin continued this, pausing a few seconds between each glass so Mike could breathe, until he was sure there was enough pure water to flush out the Sanzu Water. When he was done, he pulled the green Ranger into a strong hug.

"You moron," he muttered. "Do you have any idea what just happened?"

Mike shook his head, "Not a clue. Why am I so tired? Why do I taste flies?"

"You were a spider," Mia said, pushing Kevin away so she could give Mike a hug. "That spider Jayden found in his room was a spider from the Netherworld. A mini-Nighlok, so to speak."

"And I…? Did I scare Jayden, at least?" Mike asked with a chuckle. He was then punched in the arm.

"You scared all of us, idiot," Serena growled. Mike looked up at her.

"Sorry."

"Next time you start shooting out webs or climbing walls, tell someone!" Serena punched him in the arm again, "Do you have any idea what you put us through? You almost ate Jayden and Emily for lunch! And Poor Storm's never going to trust you again."

"Why? What did I do? OW!"

"That's for trapping my sister in your web."

"OW!"

"That's for scaring the shit out of Jayden and wrapping him up like a mummy in your web."

"OW!"

"That's for almost forcing me to exterminate you!"

"OW!"

"That's just for an even number of ows," Serena said. She wrapped her arms around Mike, who responded with only a one-armed hug. His other was numb from all her punches.

As Serena hugged Mike, Ji walked out of the house with a big bucket full of water. He smiled at the Rangers as he walked by them, then he opened the gate and dumped the water on the ground. He turned around, closed the gate and walked back to the Rangers.

"Mike?"

Mike nodded his head, "I'm not a spider anymore… apparently."

"Welcome back," Ji gave the green Ranger a quick hug.

Kevin looked inside the bucket curiously. It was empty now, but he wanted to know what was inside of it. Ji saw him looking and laughed.

"The home is spider free," he pointed to the door, where a vacuum was sitting. "The cat and I killed them all. She's still on the hunt, but I'm positive the spider invasion is done."

"Cat?" Mia asked. "We have a dog, but no…?"

She trailed off as a cat walked out of the house and rubbed itself against Ji's leg before disappearing, bursting into a shower of symbols. Ji helped Mike up to his feet and the five walked into the house. It was still covered in spider webs.

"Wow, you guys weren't kidding," Mike looked around in awe, "I did all this?"

"Jayden can destroy them with his fire," Mia said, "but after what just happened, we gave him the day off."

"My room is still free, right?" Serena asked and Ji nodded his head. The Samurai made their way down the hall, jumping, ducking, and twisting their way through the webs until they were safely in Serena's room. Mike gasped when he saw Emily on the bed, her feet wrapped together tightly by one of his webs.

"Em…"

"I'm fine," Emily assured him as he hurried over and pulled her into his arms. She hugged him tight, "I should be worried about you."

"I'm fine," he promised her. He sat down on the bed beside her and was about to pull her into a kiss when he heard what sounded like a growl and a whimper. He looked down at the bed and saw Storm who was trying her best to limp away from him in terror, while also letting him know she didn't like how close he was to her or Emily. He saw the bandage around her body, just above her front leg and his heart sunk. "I didn't…"

"You did," Emily pulled Storm into her arms to comfort the scared dog. Unlike the Samurai, Storm had no idea Mike was no longer a threat. She trembled, cried, and growled until Mike backed away from the bed.

"I'm so sorry," Mike gave Emily the look she hated to see. Aside from not telling anyone when he started shooting webs and climbing walls, he had done nothing wrong. Never in his right mind would he ever hurt Storm or the other Samurai, and yet he still felt guilty and ashamed. She shook her head.

"It's okay. It wasn't you. She'll realize that, just like we all do."

"Maybe it's best if you keep your distance," Serena pulled Mike a little further back. Emily saw the hurt look on Mike's face and she shook her head. She held out her dog for Serena to take.

"You hold her," she said. Serena held the dog gently and comfortably and kept her at a safe distance from Mike, who went to sit with Emily.

"I wish I could remember what happened," Mike muttered. He wrapped his arms around Emily, holding her tight. "I'm really, really sorry, guys."

Emily looked down at her knee, happy Mike couldn't remember. If he felt this badly for hurting the dog, she couldn't imagine all the blame he would put on himself if he found out he attacked her. She cuddled him, "It's all over now, and we know that wasn't you. It's okay."

"But…"

Emily gave him the smile that always made him believe: "It's okay."


End file.
